Primary Progress Toolkit

overview

The Primary Progress Toolkit is a program designed to enable schools to manage their pupils’ and school’s results data and to analyse the performance of individual pupils, year groups, classes and the school itself. The Toolkit has three main sections: DATA, SCHOOL and PUPILS. The data section is used for entering, editing and deleting school and pupil results, forecasts and targets. The school and pupil sections display these values in both table and graphic form. The data section of the Toolkit has a reports option that can be used to create year and class lists of pupil names, plus columns containing any of their pupil details, test results or teacher assessments. The Toolkit is designed as an aid to the analysis of the data and, as such, provides various tools to help in the analysis of the results and a good deal of very helpful information on how widely the sections or pages can be utilised and what analysis can be undertaken. The school and pupil sections display prepared tables and graphs to analyse the data in the toolkit. Facilities are provided in the Main Menu for data maintenance. These options allow inspection and checking of what data is in the toolkit and also provide facilities for data copying for safekeeping and the installation of toolkit updates( the most recent are outlined and evaluated later).

Worksheet windows have ‘colour coded’ panels; the ‘data’ panel is dark blue, the ‘school’ panel is mid blue and the ‘pupils’ panel is light blue. The top half of each panel shows the selected options and in the bottom half there is a selection of standard routines.

The Primary Progress Toolkit has a consistent layout, making it easy to use and to navigate through. The interface is very intuitive with the main choices made at the top of each page, usually by way of drop down menus. Buttons are provided to call up any additional information, alter focus and resolution or to switch between table and graphic display.

Often tables allow features to be switched on and off by the simple use of a tick or check box. Tables generally have a graph option selectable by clicking on the ‘graph’ button. Some of the tables have more than one graph button and all graphic displays contain a ‘table’ button to return to the table display.

All the graphs allow user control of what is shown on the screen. Features can be enabled and disabled using check boxes. In this way, individual subject results can be displayed one at a time or in desired combinations. Pupils results can be displayed for ‘all pupils’, ‘boys’ or ‘girls’ and for a variety of new and school designed groupings. School and pupil name labels can similarly be shown or hidden.

I found the layout of the interface to be very user friendly, easy to become acclimatised to and familiarized with so that it is firmly and continually accommodated into ones cognitive schemes.

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